All modern economies depend on public confidence that politicians can't lower interest rates to serve their own purposes - such as getting short-term growth at the expense of long-term inflation and instability.

Investors said his move to convene a call with the president's Working Group on Financial Markets, known as the "Plunge Protection team", may have weighed on sentiment. We have companies, the greatest in the world, and they're doing really well.

Trump said he remained confident in American firms, and indicated investors should not fear the markets. "I think the increasing of interest rates and the shrinking of the Fed portfolio is an absolute bad thing to do at this time especially in light of my major trade negotiations which are ongoing, but I never suggested firing Chairman Jay Powell, nor do I believe I have the right to do so, "' Powell tweeted.

USA stocks edged up on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 (.SPX) up 0.2 percent in late morning trading.

Mnuchin on Saturday denied that Trump planned to remove the Fed chairman, saying on Twitter that Trump told him in a conversation that he "never suggested firing" Powell.

"This is nonsense", they said.

The treasury stated: "The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending", adding that Mnuchin "also confirmed that they have not experienced any clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly".

Earlier this month the Fed followed through on expectations it would hike interest rates by 0.25 to a range of 2.25 per cent 2.5 per cent - the highest level in a decade.

The batting line-up is usual with Virat Kohli leading both the squads and Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to be likely openers. Following the 4-test match series, India will take on Australia and New Zealand in ODI and later in T20Is against New Zealand.

He went to to appear in a number of popular films, including Wall Street , True Romance and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective . A friend of Adonis', Phil Castellano, shared his condolences on Facebook in a series of photos remembering his pal.

It said a number of missiles hit three targets, which it claimed are weapon depots that belong to the Lebanese Hezbollah group. Syrian media said that most of the incoming missiles were intercepted by its defences, which were filmed firing overnight.

Holiday travel will be very hard because of heavy and blowing snow and reduced visibility, the weather service said. Chris Wattie / Reuters A worker clears a sidewalk as light snow falls on Parliament Hill in on November 20, 2018.

The International Monetary Fund expects USA economic growth to slow to 2.5 percent next year from 2.9 percent in 2018. It also created a lot of heartburn getting there, with two separate drops of 10 percent over the course of the year.

But landing in Cienfuegos would have required them to disembark via tenders , small boats that shuttle passengers to land. Medical staff on board the Empress cared for the fishermen, though Royal Caribbean reports neither were injured.

Did you? All this presumption made for such an unsatisfying ending and to think it could have been such a memorable send off. Reps for Spacey and Massachusetts State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

But, one thing is clear, Apple products have now lost the reputation of the status symbol that they once enjoyed in the country. The concern is that its products could have been installed with a "backdoors" that would allow China to spy on other nations.

Second child dies in custody - US immigration authorities
An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died Christmas morning in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection , the agency said. The boy was returned to the hospital in the evening with nausea and vomiting and died there just hours later, CBP said.